


A Guide and Analysis of Naruto Politics (Meta)

by Yeetingmeselfintosun



Category: Naruto
Genre: Analysis, Gen, Iwagakure | Hidden Stone Village, Kirigakure | Hidden Mist Village, Konohagakure | Hidden Leaf Village, Kumogakure | Hidden Cloud Village, Meta, Politics, Sunagakure | Hidden Sand Village
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:36:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28815744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeetingmeselfintosun/pseuds/Yeetingmeselfintosun
Summary: An analysis of how Naruto politics actually work and of how the major players came into power. (For the Secret Snipers 2020 exchange)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3
Collections: Secret Snipers Exchange 2020





	A Guide and Analysis of Naruto Politics (Meta)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JaredWhy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaredWhy/gifts).



> I hope you like your exchange gift Jared! If you can't see the graphic at the beginning properly, here is the direct link to it! https://i.imgur.com/8ADbmQA.png.

* * *

**The Players**

_The Five Great Nations:_

The Land of Fire houses the hidden village Konohagakure, the first shinobi village ever established. Konoha is considered the strongest hidden village, as it has a large amount of highly skilled shinobi and is called home by many powerful clans. It is led by the Hokage, who is typically chosen by their predecessor. It holds the Kyuubi.

The Land of Earth houses the hidden village Iwagakure. The entire country is blocked off from the rest of the continent by a harsh almost impassable mountain range. It holds the Yonbi and the Gobi.

The Land of Water houses the hidden village Kirigakure. The village has experienced many internal and external conflicts over the years, leaving it incredibly unstable and giving it the name ‘The Bloody Mist’. Their leader is the Mizukage and it holds the Sanbi and the Rokubi.

The Land of Lightning houses the hidden village Kumogakure. It is located high up in a mountain range shrouded by clouds. Like many villages, it once fostered a friendly relationship with Konoha which had completely degraded by the beginning of the Naruto series. Its ninjas are very adept at lightning jutsu and their leader is the Raikage. It holds the Nibi and the Hachibi.

The Land of Wind houses the hidden village Sunagakure. It is located deep in the desert, and although the Land of the Wind is very large, very little of its land can be used to produce food. Sunagakure had seen a slowing of economic activity due to many seeing Konohagakure as a better option. It holds the Ichibi.

_Other Entities:_

Amegakure is a hidden village run by Pain and his right hand woman Konan at the beginning of the series, however no other village had learned that they were currently in charge, instead being led to believe that Hanzo. Most of its population is made up of war refugees and it is highly industrialized.

The Akatsuki is a terrorist group of high level missing nin with close ties to Amegakure. Pain is officially their leader but Obito Uchiha is pulling at the strings. Its goal is to gather and extract all of the tailed beasts.

Otogakure is a hidden village located in the Land of Sound (formerly the Land of Rice Fields) and is not a true village, but a network of hidden labs and bases concentrated mostly in the Land of Sound. It is led by the infamous Konoha missing-nin Orochimaru.

Takigakure is a hidden village run by a Village Head rather than a Kage, but their functions are basically the same. It produced the nigh-immortal missing-nin Kakuzu and is the only village which is not a part of the Five Great Nations to hold a tailed beast, the Nanabi.

* * *

**How did the Five Great Nations amass their power? (Analysis)**

When you look at the Five Great Nations and their respective hidden villages, it seems that they almost arbitrarily became the ‘superpowers’ of the Naruto world. After all, Kirigakure was a bloody mess after many of their most powerful shinobi went rogue, Sunagakure was in a major financial crisis, and in the meantime, somehow Takigakure got hold of a tailed beast and is still not considered part of the Great Five. So, how do the Great Five still hold so much power and influence? There are a few reasons for this: their geographical locations, concentration of powerful shinobi, possession of tailed beasts, and sheer luck.

Now, one of the advantages all of the hidden villages located in the Five Great Nations have is a geographical advantage. Compare Kirigakure to, lets say, Amegakure. Amegakure is located at the center of the continent with no distinct geographical advantages to speak of. In fact, the country Amegakure is located in is landlocked meaning that any possible trade must be done over land or, if they are lucky, any rivers large enough to support shipping. Kirigakure, on the other hand, is part of an island nation giving it the advantage of access to the ocean and no land borders shared by other countries. All of the other hidden villages have similar types of geographical advantages and all have access to large swathes of coastline. Not one Great Nation is landlocked.

Another one of the advantages that the Five Great Nations hold over all other nations and hidden villages is powerful shinobi. A hidden village can get powerful shinobi in a variety of ways. For example, Konohagakure gets many of its powerful shinobi from the clans that have joined it over the years, and has the highest concentration of shinobi clans out of every single hidden village. Other hidden villages located in the Five Great Nations, such as Sunagakure, focus heavily on research and development of certain techniques which are unique to the village, such as chakra puppets. In the case of the village Takigakure, they have experienced manpower shortages of experienced shinobi, most prominently during the Third Shinobi War. Amegakure and Otogakure are home to many powerful shinobi, however this strength is relatively new while the villages within the Great Five Nations have had much of their strength since their formation.

The last major factor making the Five Great Nations superpowers is undoubtedly their possession of the tailed beasts, which were sold by Konoha to Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Iwagakure in an attempt to stabilize power. These creatures can be sealed into people, making them into walking talking superweapons. Most of the time they are not used in battle, even during war due to their sheer destructive potential and the possibility of a container losing control, however there have been instances where they have been used, and those instances have served as deterrent for minor villages and nations attempting to gain power and land. The only village to have a tailed beast outside of the Great Five had been Takigakure, however due to its lack of powerful shinobi and lackluster geographic positioning they would not be able to sustain any form of war against any of the Five Great Nations.

The Great Five Nations are superpowers for a _reason_. Due to a combination of geographical advantages, strong shinobi, possession of tailed beasts, and luck, they rose to the top of the shinobi world, with most countries only acting as buffer zones in between them.

* * *

**Afterword**

While all of these villages and nations hold immense amounts of power, are they effective governments? From a military standpoint, _absolutely_! They have access to large amounts of manpower, with children being indoctrinated early on and an upper echelon of high ranking officials whose main priority is military strength. However, when you examine these governments from the standpoint of the general populace, not at all. Children are trained to be soldiers. The leaders of the village and the nation are not selected by the people, nor are they selected for any form of competency when it comes to general policy or civic decisions. It is a miracle that these nations have not already imploded on themselves. _-Yeetingmeselfintosun_

  
  
  



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